DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15100#0144
91
PLATE XXXIX.
BACCHANALIAN PROCESSION.
The front of a sarcophagus, the ends of which have been already
described, representing a grand Bacchanalian procession, possibly
in honour of the marriage of Ariadne with Bacchus, who appear
reclining in a low four-wheeled car drawn by two centaurs.
The voluptuous divinity is languidly resting upon his left elboAv,
his head falling back, as if from indolence or intoxication he was
unable to support it; from an amphora in his right hand he is
pouring a copious libation of wine into a deep vessel held by a
Satyr crowned with pine, who walks behind the car. His head is
bound with ivy, and an ample peplus envelopes the lower part of
his person, leaving his body and arms uncovered. Ariadne, also
crowned with ivy, and clothed in a light tunic, is seated opposite
to him, and is occupied in adjusting a wreath of flowers which
passes across his body from his shoulders to his loins ; in her left
hand she holds an umbrella. The car is richly sculptured, and is
embellished in front with a figure of an intoxicated Satyr; on the
side pannel another Satyr is represented dragging a goat by the
horns. The Centaurs have a Satyr-like character, their ears being
long and pointed; one plays the lyre, the other blows the double
flute, having profited perhaps by the instructions of Chiron, the
musical preceptor of Achilles.1 Cupid is joyously dancing on their
1 kcu AafTijjv KtvravpoQ i\(°v Qptaaovaav viryvriv
fie Zvybv avTOKtXtvaTOQ iKOvmov avxtva rs'tvev. Nonnus, xiv. 1. 264-5. On a
Trapezophorus, Mus. Borbon. i. tav. 48, Centaurs are represented holding syrinxes :
on the back of one is a winged boy. Compare, ibid. iii. taw. 20-1.
PLATE XXXIX.
BACCHANALIAN PROCESSION.
The front of a sarcophagus, the ends of which have been already
described, representing a grand Bacchanalian procession, possibly
in honour of the marriage of Ariadne with Bacchus, who appear
reclining in a low four-wheeled car drawn by two centaurs.
The voluptuous divinity is languidly resting upon his left elboAv,
his head falling back, as if from indolence or intoxication he was
unable to support it; from an amphora in his right hand he is
pouring a copious libation of wine into a deep vessel held by a
Satyr crowned with pine, who walks behind the car. His head is
bound with ivy, and an ample peplus envelopes the lower part of
his person, leaving his body and arms uncovered. Ariadne, also
crowned with ivy, and clothed in a light tunic, is seated opposite
to him, and is occupied in adjusting a wreath of flowers which
passes across his body from his shoulders to his loins ; in her left
hand she holds an umbrella. The car is richly sculptured, and is
embellished in front with a figure of an intoxicated Satyr; on the
side pannel another Satyr is represented dragging a goat by the
horns. The Centaurs have a Satyr-like character, their ears being
long and pointed; one plays the lyre, the other blows the double
flute, having profited perhaps by the instructions of Chiron, the
musical preceptor of Achilles.1 Cupid is joyously dancing on their
1 kcu AafTijjv KtvravpoQ i\(°v Qptaaovaav viryvriv
fie Zvybv avTOKtXtvaTOQ iKOvmov avxtva rs'tvev. Nonnus, xiv. 1. 264-5. On a
Trapezophorus, Mus. Borbon. i. tav. 48, Centaurs are represented holding syrinxes :
on the back of one is a winged boy. Compare, ibid. iii. taw. 20-1.